AFL South Coast

South Coast Australian Football League
Sport	Australian rules football
Founded	1969
No. of teams	10
Country	Australia
Most recent; champion(s)	Figtree Kangaroos
Official website	[1]

The AFL South Coast is an Australian rules football competition in the Shoalhaven and Illawarra regions of New South Wales. The AFLSC has two divisions of senior men's football and one division of senior women's football. In 2012 The South Coast AFL became "AFL South Coast" incorporating the three leagues of South Coast AFL Seniors, Shoalhaven Juniors and Illawarra Juniors.

The competition is technically South Coast's division of the New South Wales Australian Football League.

History

The South Coast AFL was formed in 1969, composed of players from the military bases of HMAS Albatross, HMAS Creswell, and the cities of Nowra and Wollongong. In 1970 the Bomaderry club was formed and in 1972 Dapto joined the competition.

In 1975, Wollongong and Dapto left the league to create the Illawarra Australian Football League. They were joined by Bulli-Woonona (now known as Northern Districts), Port Kembla and Shellharbour, three clubs who had run junior programs but were introducing senior football. The sixth foundation club of the senior league was the University of Wollongong.

In 1988, the Wollongong Lions moving to the Sydney Football League causing the league to disband and the remaining clubs joining the South Coast AFL, which was renamed the Leisure Coast Australian Football League. The league returned to the name "South Coast AFL" in 2002.

In 2012 The South Coast AFL became "AFL South Coast" incorporating the three leagues of South Coast AFL Seniors, Shoalhaven Juniors and Illawarra Juniors.

Clubs

15km
10miles

Ulladulla

Port Kembla

Bay & Basin

Wollongong Bulldogs

Wollongong Lions

Shellharbour City Suns

Northern Districts

Kiama Power

Figtree

Bombaderry

Locations of the teams home grounds (Yellow = reserves only)

Teams are listed by their highest grade.

Emblem	Club	Nickname	Home Ground	Founded	Years in competition	Web Page
Seniors
	Bomaderry	Tigers	Artie Smith Oval	1969	1970-	Official site
	Figtree	Kangaroos (Men) & Saints (Women)	Harry Graham Park	1999	1999-	Official site
	Kiama	Power	Bonaira Playing Field	1999	2002-	Official site
	Northern Districts (formerly Bulli-Woonona)	Tigers	Hollymount Park	1971	1988-	Official site
	Shellharbour City	Suns	Myimbarr Community Park	2011	2011– (Reserve) 2013– (Senior)	Official site
	Wollongong	Lions	North Dalton Park	1966	1971–1974, 2015–	Official site
	Wollongong	Bulldogs	Keira Oval	2008	2008– (Reserve) 2010– (Senior)	Official site
Reserves
	Bay & Basin	Bombers	Bay & Basin Leisure Centre	1999	2019, 2023-
	Port Kembla	Blacks	Kully Bay Oval	1966	1975– (Illawarra AFL 1975–1988)	Official site
	Ulladulla	Dockers	West Ulladulla AFL Field	2009	2009– (Reformed) (Reserve Grade only)	Official site

Clubs with Juniors only

Shellharbour Swans
Shoalhaven Giants

Club	Mascot	Years in Competition	Fate
Albatross (formerly HMAS Albatross)	Demons	1969–2014	Merged with Nowra after 2014 season to form Nowra Albatross
Albion Park	Crows	2019–2021	Folded
Camden	Cats	SCAFL 1996–2007	Moved to AFL Sydney after 2008 season
Goulburn-Bargo	Hawks	1997–98	Folded
HMAS Creswell		1969	Folded
Dapto	Hawks	SCAFL 1972–1974 IAFL 1975–1988, 1989	Folded
Dapto City	Stallions	2015–2019	Folded
East Nowra		1980–1987	Folded
Nowra	Blues	1969–2014 Merged with Albatross	Merged with Albatross after 2014 season to form Nowra Albatross
Nowra-Albatross	Vikings	2015–2023	Official site
Wollondilly	Knights	2008–2013	Folded, reformed in AFL Sydney

Premierships

1969 Wollongong
1970 Wollongong
1971 Albatross
1972 Albatross
1973 Nowra
1974 Nowra
1975 Albatross
1976 Nowra
1977 Nowra
1978 Albatross
1979 Albatross
1980 Nowra
1981 East Nowra
1982 Nowra
1983 Albatross
1984 Albatross
1985 Batemans Bay
1986 Batemans Bay
1987 Batemans Bay

1988 Batemans Bay
1989 Bomaderry
1990 Albatross
1991 Albatross
1992 Albatross
1993 Port Kembla
1994 Bomaderry
1995 Albatross
1996 Albatross
1997 Albatross
1998 Nowra
1999 Port Kembla
2000 Bomaderry
2001 Nowra
2002 Nowra
2003 Camben
2004 Bomaderry
2005 Camben

2006 Bomaderry
2007 Bomaderry
2008 Bomaderry
2009 Kiama
2010 Bomaderry
2011 Kiama
2012 Wollongong University
2013 Wollongong University
2014 Wollongong University

Premier Division

2015 Wollongong Bulldogs
2016 Wollongong Lions
2017 Wollongong Lions
2018 Kiama
2019 Wollongong Lions
2020 Figtree
2022 Figtree
2023 Figtree

First Division

2015 Figtree
2016 Wollongong Bulldogs
2017 Kiama
2018 Bomaderry
2019 Wollongong Bulldogs
2020 Figtree
2022 Wollongong Bulldogs
2023 Wollongong Bulldogs

Second Division

2018 Bomaderry
2019 Ulladulla
2020 Figtree
2022 Wollongong Bulldogs
2023 Wollongong Bulldogs

Womens Premier

2018 Bomaderry
2019 Wollongong Bulldogs
2020 Wollongong Saints
2022 Wollongong Lions
2023 Wollongong Lions

Womens Division One

2019 Ulladulla
2020 Shellharbour
2022 Northern Districts Tigers
2023 Kiama Power

Honours

Life Members

Ray Tunbridge, 1975
Alan Blacker, 1977
Tom Smith, 1979
John Collier, 1980
Stewart Stephens, 1981
Ian Biggs, 1983
Eddie Smith, 1985
Greg Perry, 1987
John Ford, 1996
D. Cornish, 1997
K. Blundell, Reg Douglas and N. Hickmott, 1998
K. Bright, L. Bright and J. Tatnell, 2005
Terry Ashton, 2011
Max Avery, 2009

Tom Smith Memorial Trophy

A lightning premiership played at the start of the season.

1977 Bomaderry
1978 Albatross
1979 Nowra
1980 East Nowra
1981 Nowra
1982 Nowra
1984 Albatross
1990 Bomaderry

1991 Bomaderry
1992 Albatross
1993 Port Kembla
1994 Bomaderry
1995 Nowra
1996 Bomaderry
1997 Bomaderry
1998 Port Kembla

1999 Camden
2001 Albatross
2002 Bomaderry
2003 Camden
2004 Albatross
2005 Albatross
2006 Camden
2007 Nowra

2008 Bomaderry
2009 Kiama
2010 Northern Districts
2011 Wollongong University
2012 Kiama
2013 Kiama
2017 Figtree

Hall of Fame

2017 Neville Hickmott
2018 Ray Tunbridge
2019 Tom Smith

AFL players

Arthur Chilcott had a short career with the Sydney Swans between 1984 and 1985. He played 13 games and scored 14 goals.
Aidan Riley was rookie listed by the Adelaide Crows via the NSW scholarship program, making his debut in 2011 in their round 19 match against Port Adelaide. In 2014 he joined the Melbourne Football Club and after playing the 2014 and 2015 seasons returned to Adelaide to play with the Sturt Football Club in the SANFL. Aidan Riley retired from Sturt in 2019.
James Bell played his debut game for the Sydney Swans in 2019 against Port Adelaide. A former Shellharbour Junior, James signed with the Swans as a Rookie in 2017.

References

External links

Official website